ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
*****************************************************************************

As someone with a strong interest in evolution (and futurology) and science
education, I'd like to add my two cents:
I actually think it's quite possible that modern humans would largely stop
evolving (modern humans are vastly different from how we were even 500 years
ago). All it would entail is enough technology (as I believe Martin Weiss
implied) to allow anyone who wants to have kids to be able to do so (a state
we are rather close to achieving). Even a cataclysmic event which would
otherwise be perfect for punctuated equilibrium may not necessarily cause
this situation to change. Considering that humans generally have small
numbers (relatively speaking), long generation times, ever increasing rates
of gene-mixing between different populations, and lots of technology, we
would not necessarily adapt biologically to a new situation; it seems more
likely that we'd adapt technologically. As an example, consider lactose
intolerance, which someone mentioned: the right genes even exist and yet we
didn't wait for them to spread through the population. Instead, we just
invented lactose-free milk and medications to treat symptoms. Technological,
not biological, solutions. (Which may even be halting or negating natural
selection.)

Of course, natural selection would still sift out "unfit" individuals
(though that's also diminishing with progresses in technology and medicine
etc) and I suppose selection could still be found in a few interesting ways,
such as fostering genes which encourage people to actually reproduce,
considering how society and the birthrate is changing in modern times. And
we might even evolve ourselves as our understanding of genetics advances.
But, more or less, I wouldn't be surprised if adaptive evolution basically
came to halt. And to clear, I'm not saying that we've achieved this state,
but it certainly seems possible and perhaps likely in the near future.

All the best,
Ari Einbinder

***********************************************************************
For information about the Association of Science-Technology Centers and the Informal Science Education Network please visit www.astc.org.

Check out the latest case studies and reviews on ExhibitFiles at www.exhibitfiles.org.

The ISEN-ASTC-L email list is powered by LISTSERVR software from L-Soft. To learn more, visit
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html.

To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L list, send the
message  SIGNOFF ISEN-ASTC-L in the BODY of a message to
[log in to unmask]